"Oh? I thought you two had been traveling together for many years."
"Who's been traveling with him for many years?"
Melina pursed her lips. Yet, thinking back, it really was strange; the sense of fulfillment brought about by these mere few months was more significant than all the years prior. Strange, how did I end up like this? I never used to be interested in other people.
When exactly did I get on this pirate ship? Melina was very distressed. In the past, if she had encountered Millicent, she would have paid attention for a moment at most; she certainly wouldn't have defended her, let alone felt emotions like happiness. Her eyes held only her mission; everything else was a burden.
"Big Sister Melina, what kind of person do you think Teacher is?"
Millicent didn't know Melina was doubting herself; her mind was still lingering on the various guises of Throne. Sometimes bloodthirsty like a demon, sometimes plain like flowing water. Sometimes very serious, sometimes fond of bullying others. False or true, she could no longer tell.
"Throne is a very complex person, hard to summarize in a single sentence. If you call him selfish and insidious, he'll risk his life for others. If you call him serious, there are many times he makes me so angry I want to stab him to death."
Melina gritted her teeth as she spoke, though she was one of the people who understood Throne best.
"Regardless, this man is worth trusting. If he says he'll do something, he'll get it done. If he says he'll kill someone, he'll kill them. You can be completely at ease about that."
"That makes Teacher sound like a hero?"
"He is a hero, by nature."
Melina straightened her back involuntarily, speaking with a proud tone: "Daring to fight despite knowing the enemy is strong, turning the impossible into possible, standing up when seeing injustice—there are very few people like that."
Millicent felt the thick sense of pride. She tilted her head slightly; as a clone of Malenia, she had clearly inherited the trait of being straightforward, and asked bluntly:
"So, are you Teacher's lover?"
Lover? What does that mean? Melina turned her head blankly, her face full of a 'wise' expression, as if she had suddenly gone deaf.
"What did you just say?"
"I asked if you and Teacher are lovers. You two seem to have quite a bond."
Millicent didn't understand what it meant to be subtle; she always said what was on her mind.
"So, what is the meaning of lover?"
This time it was Millicent's turn to blink. She hesitated for a moment, confirming she hadn't used the wrong word.
"It means exactly what it says. Could the word I saw in the book be wrong?"
Melina was certainly not illiterate; her mind just hadn't shifted gears yet. Lover? Me and him?
Amidst the man's beast-like roars inside the room, several more minutes passed, and then Melina shook her head frantically as if struck by lightning.
"No, no, no, that's impossible. And how could you even associate those things?"
She wasn't exactly blushing, but her reaction was very intense, as if she had heard some terrifying vocabulary.
Millicent didn't quite understand and answered seriously: "A feeling. I don't know why either."
"Then you are mistaken."
"That can't be. Alexander even praised my intuition for being sharp."
Millicent was like a sharp sword, her words decisive and direct.
"You must be wrong!"
Melina emphasized her tone.
She seemed to have realized something truly terrifying, and now that the straightforward Millicent had brought it up, her scalp felt numb. A normal person would surely have shut up, but Millicent was not a normal person; once she had settled on a truth, she didn't really know how to read the room.
"But you do things for Teacher that you don't want to do, you're willing to go through life and death with him, and you support and rely on each other. That matches the description in the book perfectly."
"Books are all deceptive. I only do these things to complete a transaction."
"But I don't see any perfunctoriness or coercion. If it's just a transaction, there's no need to go to such lengths."
That's right, why did I go to such lengths? At first, I was tricked by him; later, I could have just found any random excuse to brush it off. Melina leaned against the wall, somewhat bewildered. She never liked to think, and now that it had been brought up, her head was suddenly in chaos. A simple companion relationship? No, that was just self-deception. But besides that, what else was there?
After thinking for a long time, she finally said: "Throne and the Lunar Princess are the true lovers. I can see that much."
"Then do you not have any thoughts of competing? For a swordsman, if you want something, you strive to obtain it. Even if you lose, you have no regrets."
If Throne, who was busy drilling holes in his own body, knew what these two were saying at the door, he would likely have rushed out immediately. His good student was currently constructing a Shura field for him. Melina was stunned for a long while before she slowly regained her senses. Her lowered bangs blocked her eyes.
"I'm not a swordsman! No, wait—why would I compete with the Lunar Princess? I already said he and I are just companions!"
The wooden girl was already bristling, but Millicent always had a feeling that this big sister was lying to herself. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly heard a painful cry from inside the room.
"Melina, quick, come in quickly!"
"Coming!"
The wooden girl answered at more than three times her usual speed and pushed the door open to enter as if fleeing. She was already a bit afraid of Millicent; this child was too ignorant of social conventions and dared to say anything. Blood was soaking into the floor. Throne sat cross-legged in the center; at this moment, he couldn't care about Melina's expression.
"Damn it, this magic core is harder than I imagined. Quickly, cast a recovery incantation!"
Melina saw his face was deathly pale and was startled, quickly clasping her hands together. Erdtree Heal. Golden light emerged in the room. A golden tree of light, as tall as a person, appeared above Throne's head, not only restoring his stamina but also possessing hemostatic properties.
His complexion improved immediately. He raised his hand tremblingly; in his palm was that small black box.
"Open it and put the primeval glintstone inside for me."
"Put, put it where?"
Throne puffed out his chest. There was a hole the size of a fist there; a rib had been cut away.
Through a thin layer of crystal, one could see the heart beating inside, and the area around the hole was covered in dense, cyan magic runes.
"Put it here. Be careful; I don't want to be influenced by Lusat's soul, even if his consciousness has solidified."
This was the best core.
Precisely because Lusat's consciousness was solidified, it wouldn't cause a collision of souls, but Throne was also afraid that his own consciousness might become solidified too. Melina didn't feel disgusted by the bloody, mangled hole. She nodded gently and opened the box, immediately sensing a powerful aura.
It was a stone with an uneven surface, about half the size of a fist, emitting a cyan light. She didn't have time to look closely and picked it up directly. It was as if she were holding a branding iron, and she felt something eroding her. Her instinct was to let go, but Melina still gritted her teeth and stuffed it into Throne's chest cavity.
The light vanished instantly—no, it spread along those dense magic runes toward his arms, like an electric current conducting through a string of neon lights. Then, she saw Throne's eyes almost bulge out. Both eyeballs were covered in bloodshot veins, and even the illusion constructed by his illusory mask was torn apart. The man was trembling all over, his gums bitten until they bled.
"Does it hurt?"
"No… shit…" Throne spat out the two words with difficulty. How could one stop being human without paying some price? He felt as if a dam had burst, and a massive flood poured into his body, then surged toward the river channels that had already been dug. The feeling was just like the cases mentioned in Rennala's books: certain mages opened the valves and then blew themselves up.
Throne was not a masochist; the so-called pleasure was just self-deprecation. He now wished he could release all his magic power, even if it meant blowing Sellia into a wasteland. But at this moment, he felt a pair of hands wrap around his neck, and then felt a warm, soft touch on his face.
Melina knelt in the pool of blood, disregarding the blood-stained man, and held him in her arms, gently stroking the hair behind his head.
"You'll be fine. You will definitely make it through."
Her words were gentle, the young girl repeating this sentence over and over. Throne's eyes widened slightly at first, then slowly narrowed.
This kind of psychological comfort was practically useless, yet it held infinite meaning. Just like a small boat tossing in a storm being suddenly guided into a tranquil bay, his wildly beating heart gradually became steady. Throne closed his eyes, feeling the pain, and also feeling the lingering warmth brought by the young girl.
Outside, Millicent was still standing straight, guarding against anyone passing by. She glanced into the room through the window and could see the man and woman embracing, causing her to wrinkle her nose. Just a transaction relationship? Who would believe that! Melina wasn't thinking about anything, or rather, staying in one position for a long time was as easy for her as eating or drinking.
She didn't know how long had passed, but she felt Throne's breathing gradually slow down, and his heartbeat was no longer as violent as before. He was just keeping his eyes closed, as if in a deep sleep. She waited a while longer, then couldn't help but ask.
"Are you done?"
"Yeah."
Throne's forehead rested on her shoulder, his nose buried in the valley, smelling the girl's faint scent, which even masked the smell of blood. This psychological suggestion was truly effective; after the pain, he was suddenly filled with sleepiness, and his eyelids began to feel heavy.
"Then what are you still lying there for?"
"Because this is very comfortable, and I'm very tired. Let me lie here for a little longer."
Throne's voice was very soft, not quite a request. Melina's hand, which had been resting on Throne's shoulder, gradually lowered. At this moment, the man in her arms was no longer insidious, no longer ruthless, and lacked his usual steel-like tenacity; he was merely an ordinary youth.
"Then suit yourself."
Melina simply accepted her fate.
Even though she felt their state was inappropriate, this rarely seen vulnerable side of the man still made her very interested. The light outside the window gradually dimmed, and the blood in the room slowly congealed. She didn't know how much time had passed, but Throne finally straightened his back, his azure eyes slowly opening.
"Are you recovered?"
"Just about."
Throne clenched his fists and then released them, moving his joints with a clicking sound.
"I have finally stepped into that which countless mages pursue. With this as a cornerstone, I might be able to step into the realm of a 'god'."
The vulnerable side from just moments ago had completely disappeared, and his ambition was burning fiercely again.
Putting aside taboos and such, the 'primeval glintstone' could be seen as a stage; only by condensing this thing could one be called a 'Master'. Throne had taken a shortcut. Of course, it wasn't as powerful as what others condensed themselves, nor could he change his body, but the increase in combat power was real. At the very least, the bottleneck of magic power could no longer restrict him.
Melina didn't understand these theories and just said indifferently: "Don't do such dangerous things next time."
"This is the last time."
Throne wasn't a self-harming maniac, nor was there any need to fill his body with primeval glintstones. Besides, including Sellen's, there were only three of them; even if he wanted to court death, he didn't have the materials.
He glanced at the girl sitting in a seiza position, his expression slowly becoming strange. The sense of need that had appeared just now was a bit excessive.
"If you want to apologize, I don't mind. If you are afraid that I will tell the Lunar Princess, I can keep it a secret." Melina seemed to see what he wanted to say and answered first.
Hey, why does that sound like something a girl who has lost her virginity would say to a scumbag after something unspeakable happened? Throne was even more embarrassed. Thinking back on it, whether it was the lap pillow or the embrace, why did the first time always go to Melina? It seemed he had spent more time with her than with anyone else.
It had long since transcended utilization and surpassed the transaction.
"I'll remember this."
"What does it matter to me if you remember or not? Why don't we hurry up and finish the transaction so that neither of us has to be troubled."
Melina stood up, her bangs covering her expression. Just as she took two steps, her hand was grabbed.
"Is there something else?"
Throne didn't look back, just solemnly said a few words. "Melina, I have suddenly discovered that I have become somewhat dependent on you."
The evening light dragged shadows out to be extremely long. Looking down from the hilltop, one could only see a forest eroded and mutated by the Scarlet Rot, and it seemed as if thousands of troops were hiding within the woods. Melina stood on the hilltop, her eyes unfocused. She didn't look at the soldiers busy constructing defensive fortifications; her mind was completely blank.
"What does it mean to be somewhat dependent on me?"
She didn't quite understand and felt that something was wrong. Due to a "network delay" issue, she had left Throne with a cold back at the time, walking away without saying a word, and only realized what the other party had said after reaching the hilltop, causing her mind to wander.
"Does it mean my utility value is too high and he doesn't want to let go? No, no, no. Although he is insidious, he is not a calculating person."
"Then is it that we have spent too much time together and he has gotten used to ordering me around? But why do I complain every time, yet still finish the tasks beautifully in the end?"
The young girl's eyes were confused.
She truly couldn't figure it out, or perhaps she didn't want to think in that direction.
"I have my mission, he has his ideals. In a simple relationship, neither of us would be troubled, but what is this unwillingness about?"
Melina's brain was slow to turn to begin with; encountering such a huge topic made her even more bewildered. Just then, she heard a few Tarnished digging trenches talking.
"What's up with that woman, running here to look at the scenery?"
"According to my twenty years of romantic experience, this woman must be heartbroken. Should we go hit on her?"
The few Tarnished were chuckling weirdly when they felt a murderous gaze looking over. They turned back, saw it, and scrambled away in terror. Melina, holding the Black Knife, breathed rapidly and nearly lost control.
The pounding in her chest wouldn't stop. The Tarnished's words echoed like a blade twisting in her ribs. Heartbroken? Me? Impossible. Her scalp prickled with cold sweat. This was hell—every buried secret clawed to the surface by strangers' hands. She should've stayed a ghost. Why did I choose to walk again?
Spirit form would've been cleaner. By Leyndell's gates, the whole ordeal would've lasted minutes. A brief meeting. A mission explained. A quiet parting. No complications. No this gnawing hollow where her stomach should be. She wouldn't be standing here picking at old scars.
She immediately gritted her teeth.